Archive for the ‘Health Care Reform’ Category

I have written before of the exasperating public statements of the former Speaker of the House, now House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi continually touts her status as a “devout Catholic”, yet equally often allows the strangest statements to emit from her mouth.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill called the Protect Life Act. This bill would amend the health care reform law to ensure that no federal funds are used for elective abortions, that no insurance plan covering elective abortion receives federal funds, and that conscience protection laws are strengthened. A wide majority of the House supported the bill — the vote was 251-172 — and opinion polls show broad support in the general public for its provisions.

Enter Ms. Pelosi. She opined on the floor of the House that “Under this bill… they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed.”

The specific part of the bill that she was apparently referring to would ensure that any health care worker who has religious or moral objections to abortion would not be required to participate. That is already guaranteed to a certain extent under other provisions of federal and state laws, but it was necessary to extend it to the health care law.

Of course, there is no evidence whatsoever that any woman has ever died as a result of a conscience objection by a health care worker. In fact, as far as anyone can tell, the only women who have died in connection with abortion are the millions of unborn ones, the unfortunate mothers who go into unsafe and unsanitary clinics, or those who take dangerous abortion drugs dispensed by the likes of Planned Parenthood. Does the name Kermit Gosnell ring a bell, Madam Minority Leader?

But in this area, the mind of Ms. Pelosi is apparently impervious to the truth and to reason, and she occupies a strange world of her own invention. She demonstrates the wisdom of St. Paul’s observation about those who ignore how God reveals Himself to us in creation: “they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. ” (Rom 1:21)

This is yet another occasion to recall one of my favorite statements by Cardinal Egan, in response to an earlier set of absurd comments by Ms. Pelosi:

We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.

In my last post, I proposed that many of our social and political disputes stem from a fundamental conflict in how one views the human person — the Secularist view versus the Incarnational view. That may or may not be an interesting point, but how does it play out in the real world?

To see the impact of this conflict, we need look no further than the recently-announced regulations by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The Department was acting pursuant to a provision in the health care “reform” law that mandates coverage of “preventive services”, a term that would ordinarily encompass medical care that prevents diseases. The Department, reflecting the Administration’s contraceptive mentality, has decided that pregnancy is a disease to be prevented, and has mandated that every private health insurance plan cover — without any charge to the insured person — contraceptive drugs and devices (including some that clearly have the effect of causing an abortion) and sterilization surgery.

I’m not going to discuss the absurdity and iniquity of this proposal. Those should be self-evident. I want to focus for now on how it demonstrates the impact of Secularism on religious liberty.

HHS has proposed an exemption from this rule for “religious employers”. Note this — not religious individuals, who will be forced to pay premiums for immoral drugs and procedures. Not religious insurance companies, which will be forced to pay for them. Only religious employers can be exempt, if they satisfy HHS’s view of what that term means.

It is in this definition that we find the Secularist attack on religion and on human liberty. HHS has defined “religious employer” to mean only an organization (a) whose purpose is the inculcation of religious values, (b) that primarily hires persons who share the organization’s religious tenets, and (c) that primarily serves person who share those tenets. So, you only count as a religious institution if you are solely religious in your activities, and you refrain from interacting with anyone else — in other words, if you keep your religion entirely in the private sphere, and dare not step out into society as a whole.

Think of how narrow this definition is. Every Catholic social service or health care agency serves the needy, regardless of their faith. Every Catholic parish has many purposes, including the celebration of liturgy and sacraments and the salvation of souls. Every Catholic school has multiple educational purposes beyond just inculcating religious values.

Jesus himself wouldn’t qualify for this exemption.

The regulation raises many disturbing questions for the future of religious liberty in our nation. How will HHS determine whether an organization qualifies? How will they determine what the purpose of the institution is? How will they tell if the employees or clients share our religious tenets? Will there be a test given by HHS? Will people be asked about their beliefs by a government official? Will a government agency, perhaps called the State Administration for Religious Affairs, be set up to make these determinations or to issue certificates or licenses to religious groups?

The point here is not just the reflexive hostility that this regulation displays for religion and religious believers. Rather, it is that the government considers itself authorized or qualified to define what an authentic religious organization is. And that in their mind, the only acceptable religion is the one that keeps to itself, keeps quiet, and follows orders.

This is the impact of Secularism on our society, with all the coercive power of the government at its disposal.

In May 2009, the President went to Notre Dame University to receive an honorary degree, and to address the graduating class. Many of us believed that this was a profoundly scandalous invitation by the administration of the University, which purports to be Catholic.

In response, we were tutted and shushed by those who, like the gullible priest who heads the University, thought that it would be the beginning of a “dialogue” between the pro-abortion President and the pro-life community, particularly with the Church.

Indeed, on that day, the President said this:

When we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe—that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground…. Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science but also in clear ethics as well as respect for the quality of life.

Two years later, we have yet another demonstration of what it means when the President speaks about issues of life and death. It means this — his words have the exact opposite meaning from what he says, and you can always expect that he will do everything in his power to advance the Culture of Death.

Earlier this week, the President’s Secretary of Health and Human Services announced that, pursuant to the health care “reform” law, all health insurance plans in the United States would be required to cover — free of charge to the insured person — all forms of contraceptives, under the rubric of “preventive care”.

This includes hormonal contraceptives, which corrupt women by treating their healthy fertility as if it were diseased. It includes “intrauterine devices” which are early mechanisms of abortion. It includes “ella”, a “morning after pill” that is acknowledged by its own manufacturer to work as an abortion pill. And it writes into law a powerful anti-life message, which teaches people that a new human life is an enemy to be poisoned at its earliest stages — to be “prevented”, and not welcomed.

For those individuals who object to this? Nothing. No chance of opting out. No “choice”, to use a favored word of the President’s.

For those religious institutions that object to this? Nothing — just an “exemption” that is so transparently phony that it is an insult.

This has been yet another important lesson. When the President speaks, it’s important that we translate his words into plain English. By “common ground”, he means “I will compel you to agree with me or face the consequences”. By “honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion”, he means “ignore their concerns and force them to pay for abortions and abortifacient contraceptives”. By “draft a sensible conscience clause” he means “enact a fig leaf of a provision that everyone will know to be bogus”. And by “grounded in clear ethics as well as respect for the quality of life” he means “pushing policies that advance the culture of death and the agenda of those who worship it, regardless of the cost in human lives or souls”.

And by “dialogue”, he really means “force you to surrender your beliefs and buy into the killing of children and the degradation of women”.

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

The forces of “tolerance” refuse to brook any dissent. Now the “gay rights” crowd is going after the iPhone app that helps people prepare for Confession, because it has the audacity to state that homosexual acts are sinful. Note the chilling term they use — “anti-gay spiritual abuse”. In 1984, Orwell used the term “thoughtcrime”.

An amendment to the federal budget will cut funding from abortionists. Also, the Protect Life Act, which will remove abortion funding from the health care law, has been approved by committee and sent to the full House for consideration. The Democrats in Congress, however, continue to rally behind Planned Parenthood and resist measures to defund them.

A positive initiative in Kansas to support pregnant women. Here in New York, of course, our Governor cut all funding for the pro-life Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation, while continuing unlimited Medicaid funding for abortion and tons of money for Planned Parenthood. Red states, blue states.

Why is our government funding an international program that is making it easier to carry on the exploitation of “sex workers”, including minors?

The Brave New World, Northern Chapter — a Canadian court will permit doctors to remove life support from a gravely ill baby, against her parent’s wishes; the court rejected the parents’ request to bring her home so she can die among her family.

Bills are pending before Congress to cut federal funding through for elective abortions (both through Medicaid and the new health care reform law), and for those organizations that perform abortions. The most prominent organization that will be affected by this effort is the one I like to call the “Temple of Moloch”, for its fanatical devotion to the modern sacrifice of children — Planned Parenthood, which single-handedly aborts over 300,000 children a year.

Planned Parenthood and their allies, of course, are not taking this lying down, and has enlisted their media friends to shore up public support. Over the weekend, the New York Times published an op-ed piece that summarized the abortion advocates’ talking points — if these bills are passed, the women who now go to Planned Parenthood clinics and receive care like cancer screenings will be left with no health care at all.

I was contacted by a friend, who was trying to formulate a compelling, practical and loving response to this argument. To me, the answer is two-fold. First, we should trust women to be smart and resourceful enough to make sensible decisions about their health care. Second, we need better public health policies to address the serious health issues facing urban low-income people.

The Times’ and Planned Parenthood’s argument fundamentally denies the competence of women. It is based on the false assumption that women have no alternatives to Planned Parenthood for their health care. That’s absurd — what, women aren’t smart enough to Google “Gynecologists” or “General Practitioners” in their area? That’s no way to sustain an argument, much less a coherent set of public policies.

This debate over abortion funding actually gives us an opportunity to talk about a serious public health issue that is of very grave concern to the Church, and that needs a serious public policy response. In many urban areas where Planned Parenthood clinics are located, the reality is that there are not enough health professionals to serve low-income people. The better public policy response to that is not to keep throwing money to organizations that do abortions, hand out contraceptives, and do some other health care services on the side. Instead, we need to take pragmatic steps to address the actual problem of medically under-served populations and areas. Steps like giving doctors incentives to be more accessible to Medicaid patients (e.g., realistic reimbursement rates), or to taking the money saved by these bills and enhance direct public health services (e.g., free cancer screenings), or using it to train professionals like Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners from the community who can give health care at lower cost than doctors. We will also have to change laws so that poor immigrants can qualify for Medicaid and other government health insurance programs. Given the chronic health problems of poor people, these would be much more sensible way to spend public money than to continue to subsidize abortionists.

Also, we have to help the private sector to respond. Many, many urban hospitals and medical schools are already doing outreach to underserved populations (in both urban and rural areas). There are surely ways to encourage more of that through sensible public programs (e.g., grants and other incentives). For example, some hospitals in New York City have walk-in clinics in convenient locations that are accessible to low-income people, and, because they accept Medicaid, CHIP, etc. they can provide good health care to underserved areas. We need more of these clinics.

In fact, one way to respond is to imitate Planned Parenthood’s own business model (without the abortions). Surely there are altruistic medical people (and maybe some new religious communities?) who would be willing to start up non-profit organizations to provide good basic health care to poor people in the inner city, perhaps with help from start-up grants from the government, and reasonable reimbursement rates from government health insurance programs.

The reality is that Planned Parenthood is able to succeed in winning public approval because there really is a dire public health problem in urban areas, and the private sector and the government are not adequately responding right now. It’s great to de-fund abortionists, but we still need to address the underlying problem.

Catholic social teaching actually has the right answers to the underlying problem — a combination of private and public sector responses, building up community and intermediary organizations, and helping individuals to become part of the solution. And of course, Catholic teaching also has the ultimate answer to the Planned Parenthoods of the world — respect life, don’t destroy it, and work to build a culture of life and civilization of love.

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

Archbishop Dolan, in his role as President of the US Bishops, has written to Congress to lay out the Bishops’ legislative concerns.

Must-read of the week — Kathryn Jean Lopez reflects on the reaction to the Tuscon shootings, and why we still countenance violence against the most innocent among us. Here’s how she closes: “Abortion is a violence we should open our eyes to see and stop rather than keeping quiet and accepting it. It’s one that a civil society can work to stop. Peacefully, with love and support.”

Excellent rebuttal of the “lazy slander” against pro-lifers, that we only care about babies before they’re born, and do nothing to help mothers afterwards.

Two fine opinion pieces today about NYC’s tragically high abortion rate: one by former Assemblyman Michael Benjamin in the NY Post and another by Bill McGurn in the Wall St. Journal.

Well, the House GOP leaders have made their statement by voting to repeal the health care law. Now it’s time to make a difference by defunding abortion.

In a further step along the way to the compete commodification of human life, rich clueless celebrities who buy the services of surrogate mothers are now denying their humanity, calling them “gestational carriers”.

Our Black-Robed Platonic Guardian Rulers on the Supreme Court have declined to hear the Washington DC same-sex “marriage” case — you know, the one where “We the People” were trying to get the issue on the ballot so that democracy could have a say on the law, but a panel of bureaucrats decided that the “We the People” should go into the corner and be quiet?

Sargent Shriver, perhaps the last of the old-line Catholic, pro-life Democrats, has passed into eternal life. One of the good guys. Rest in peace.

Eduardo Verastegui — the unfairly-handsome actor from the pro-life movie “Bella” — is going to finance the building of the largest pro-life women’s clinic in the United States, in Los Angeles.

(Please note that these links will take you to websites that are not affiliated with the Archdiocese. We neither take responsibility for nor endorse the contents of the websites.)

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

Abby Johnson, the former worker at the Temple of Moloch, er, I mean Planned Parenthood, who converted to pro-life after participating in an abortion, has had her book “Unplanned” published. Read this interview with her. Here’s the first chapter of her book.

Please read Msgr. Charles Pope’s reflection on the events of the last weekend from a pastor’s perspective, and the need for a conversion of heart — beginning with me — to a greater respect for each individual human life.

The Times did a nice profile of the federal judge who was murdered in Arizona on Saturday. They missed the key facts — he was a devout Catholic, a Knight of Columbus, and had just come from Mass: see here and here.

A couple in Australia aborts twin boys, because they wanted a girl by IVF. Nobody asked the boys what they wanted.

Meanwhile, scientists tell us that twins first interact with each other in the womb.

The well-known “Bodies” exhibits are perhaps the most prominent examples, but this — the use of a deceased child’s skull as the medium for “art” — is another example of the disregard for human life being exemplified by a disregard for the dignity of human remains. Catechism 2300 is clear on this: “The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection.”

According to our State Department, when it comes to a passport application we no longer have mothers and fathers, just “Parent One” and “Parent Two”. But what if there was a surrogate involved — shouldn’t there be a line on the application for “Parent Three” or more? And what if there’s polygamy involved?

The Guttmacher Institute puts out statistics, showing that the national abortion rate has gone up slightly, largely due to an increase in chemical abortions. Here’s the analysis from Americans United for Life, which attributes it to the Temple of Moloch, er, I mean Planned Parenthood’s changing business model.

All the more reason to support legislation to cut off abortionists from public money.

A mass grave is found in Austria, a grim reminder of the Nazi anti-disability euthanasia campaign. We all pledge, “Never again”, but the same campaign is taking place now, as disabled babies are killed in the womb in the name of “compassion”. Will we never learn?

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

An overview of the national campaign to shut down pregnancy support centers. For more information on what’s happening here in New York City with the New York City Council bill that targets pregnancy centers, see here.

Ross Douthat, in the Times, reflects on the paradox in American culture when it comes to the unborn child. His closing line says it all: “This is the paradox of America’s unborn. No life is so desperately sought after, so hungrily desired, so carefully nurtured. And yet no life is so legally unprotected, and so frequently destroyed.”

Here’s the Times’ formula for marriage — it’s all about me, how you make me feel, how much “self-expansion” I find in our relationship (and they’re not talking about my waistline!). You can even take a quiz to see how selfish, er, I mean “self-expansive” your attitude towards your marriage is. Me + me + me + me + me = Unhappiness + Divorce.

The impending GOP effort to repeal the health care law piecemeal will likely include a new attempt at banning abortion funding.

A profile of the new pro-life members of Congress. 80 of the 87 new GOP House members are pro-life. And here’s an interview with Chris Smith, pro-life hero in Congress.

More proof, this time from Spain, that the availability and use of contraception does not reduce abortion, since abortion is being used as the contraceptive of last resort.

Justice Scalia repeats his position that the Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion. The Justice is certainly not a Black-Robed Platonic Guardian Ruler, but he is a dedicated legal positivist, and believes that if legislatures pass laws authorizing the killing of human beings, that’s perfectly fine with the Constitution — despite its guarantee of equal protection of law to all persons.

Those enlightened, tolerant souls over at Apple Corp continue to rebuff the Manhattan Declaration (the interfaith statement of religious commitment to life, marriage, and religious liberty) by rejecting their app for the iPhone. Apple, which is happy to receive the money of Christians for their gadgets, calls the Manhattan Declaration “objectionable and potentially harmful to others” because of its opposition to same-sex “marriage”. If you haven’t signed the Declaration yet, please consider doing so, and please sign their petition to Apple.

(Please note that these links will take you to websites that are not affiliated with the Archdiocese. We neither take responsibility for nor endorse the contents of the websites.)

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

Here’s yet another way that the health care law will sneak abortion in through the back door — by defining contraceptives as “preventive care”, including those with an abortifacient effect.

And now supporters of the health care law are admitting that “death panels” are in the future for us too, thanks to the health care law.

Interesting reflection on how pro-lifers should fit into the debate on repealing or repairing the health care law.

Greg Pfundstein gives you a flavor of what the City Council hearing on the New York City Council’s awful crisis pregnancy center bill was like. Check out my blog post below for my take on the travesty.

Yet another review of the extensive scholarly literature establishing a variety of negative effects of abortion on women. Response from the regular media:

Some within the GOP are urging the new House leaders to avoid social issues. They love it when pro-lifers vote for them, but after the election they just want us to do to the back of the bus again.

If anyone tries to tell you that passing pro-life laws doesn’t have an effect on abortion, show them this report, in which a notorious late-term abortionist admits that he’s moving his killing field to a new state because of the strict regulations in Nebraska.

And the next time abortion rights advocates talk about how we’re just talking about religious dogma and not science, remind them of the public statement of the head of the Temple of Moloch, er, I mean Planned Parenthood that “We are not going to try to use science or evidence — the fact of the matter is, this is, this is opinion. We all have our own opinions as far as when human life begins.”

As always, in the eyes of the Times, the only real Catholics are dissidents and schismatics, as witnessed by their recent gushing account of the Protestant Reformation, er, I mean the decision of a few sad deluded Belgians to set up their own “ecclesia”. For a biting critique of the nonsensical way that the Times covered this non-story, see here.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the day when our Black-Robed Platonic Guardian Rulers on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court re-defined marriage to mean something that it never has, and never could, mean. Power corrupts.

More madness in Massachusetts — a new policy in Provincetown that would permit condom distribution to first graders, without parental knowledge or consent.

This is extremely cool, and not just because he’s one of my patron saints — a photo of the handwriting of St. Thomas Aquinas. With handwriting like that, now we know why he’s a Doctor of the Church.

Here’s a stunner — a positive presentation of a couple’s commitment to pre-marital abstinence, in the Washington Post, no less.

Beautiful story of how a family dealt with a fatal birth defect in their unborn child.

The following are some of the highlights from the daily email briefing about news and events, which I send out to some of my friends and contacts (if you’re interested in subscribing to the daily mailing, leave your email address in the comments box):

A pretty good overview by George Marlin on Catholics and the midterm elections. See also this interesting statistical study of the trends over the last decade.

Amidst the (justified) cheering in this post-election press release from National Right to Life is an important poll result that needs to be shown to every pro-life candidate: voters who considered abortion to have affected their vote (30%!) broke 22% to 8% pro-life — a 14% advantage for a pro-life candidate. Not only is it the right position, but it is a winning position.

You also need to hear what the other side is saying — they know they lost big in the House. NARAL says that 248 members of the new House are “anti-choice”, only 154 are “pro-choice”, and 33 are “mixed”, a gain of 44 pro-life votes. They also realize that our top priority will be the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. (Sorry for the link to one of Moloch’s favorite organizations — sprinkle holy water on your monitor after you’ve looked at the article).

Yet another example of how the health care law can lead to public funding for abortion on demand — through the decisions of state officials implementing the law. It may also lead to a nation-wide requirement that insurance companies pay for contraceptives (including the ones like IUD’s that cause early abortions).

The Secretary of State vows to fight against sex slavery and human trafficking. This scourge against the human person needs to be eradicated completely. Good for her.

This is how bad the threat to religious liberty has become in the UK — a couple is barred from being foster parents because of their belief that homosexual behavior is wrong. Even bishops of the Church of England are critical of this decision. Coming soon to the US, no doubt.

Check out this great animated video of conception to birth. Should be required viewing in every school.

40 Days for Life has now concluded. They know of at least 541 babies saved by the grace of God. Here’s the story of one of them.

A very disturbing story about fertility colonialism — where rich Westerners go to poor countries to use their women as surrogates.

A disappointing story — a leak of contents from President Bush’s memoirs reveals that he personally approved the torturing of prisoners by waterboarding. If done by a private party, that would be a crime.

Ethical investors, including Christian Brothers Investment, strike back at the cable industry’s distribution of porn.